Vandals damage Sanford turf

Crews scramble to repair field for today's game

Posted: Saturday, October 02, 1999

By Greg Martin and Stephen GurrStaff Writers

University of Georgia police are continuing their search for the person who took a vehicle for a drive between the hedges at the University of Georgia's Sanford Stadium early Friday morning, causing thousands of dollars of damage to the turf.

Today's football game between Georgia and LSU will proceed as scheduled, with kickoff at 12:37 p.m., UGA Athletic Association officials said Friday.

Authorities said the stadium was entered through Gate 10, in the western end of the stadium below the Sanford Drive bridge and adjacent to Tate Student Center.

UGA police discovered the damage about 5:30 a.m., and were guessing that the vandalism had occurred an hour earlier.

The vehicle tore swaths of grass out of the field from the western end zone to the 20-yard-line on the eastern side of the field. Some of the ruts were as deep as 18 inches.

University of Georgia Athletic Association grounds crews work with crews from local lawn maintenance companies Friday to repair damage to the Sanford Stadium turf. Temporary repairs to the turf will allow today's game with LSU to proceed as scheduled. Complete repairs could cost as much as $100,000.

Dot Paul/Staff

University of Georgia police had no suspects late Friday, and were offering no details on the vandalism as their investigation moved forward.

While ground crews spent Friday replacing the damaged sod, UGA Police Chief Chuck Horton was asking for help from the public.

''I'm hoping that maybe they'll (whoever is responsible) run their mouth a little and somebody with a conscience will give us a call,'' Horton said. ''Those that are great Georgia supporters will probably view it as some type of sacrilege.''

Anyone with information on the vandalism can call UGA police at (706) 542-2200.

In the eyes of Ray McEwen, associate director of facilities for the UGA Athletic Association, the damage to the carefully manicured field represents something far worse than a prank.

''It will cost $10,000 just to make the field playable for Saturday,'' McEwen said Friday morning. ''This goes beyond a prank ... beyond vandalism. This should be severely punished with monetary fines and jail time.''

Work by Athletic Association grounds crews and lawn maintenance companies in Athens provided nothing more than a temporary repair to the turf.

''There are going to be some visible marks on the field at game time,'' McEwen said.

It is possible that the entire field will have to be replaced ''because of the structural damage done,'' McEwen added.

Bringing the field back to original condition could cost up to $100,000, according to UGA spokesman Pete Konenkamp.

In a prepared statement, UGA Athletic Director Vince Dooley said the vandalism ''was certainly a dastardly thing to do,'' but he was ''confident the field will be perfectly playable'' for today's game.

The vandalism also forced the repainting of the trademark ''G'' in the center of the field, along with yard markings and end zone lines.

The Bulldogs normally hold a ''walk-through'' -- practice in T-shirts and shorts -- on the Sanford Stadium turf on Fridays before home games.

Because of the vandalism, the walk-through was held on the practice fields off Lumpkin Street at Butts-Mehre Heritage Hall.

Staff Writer Marc Lancaster and The Associated Press contributed to this report.